New Delhi, Sept. 12 -- When chef Gokul Kumar Mohit, also known as Goku, travelled to Mandapam about two years ago, he was intrigued by the food culture of the local seaweed farmers in the coastal town in southeast Tamil Nadu. Situated on a narrow strip of land surrounded by the Palk Strait to the north and the Gulf of Mannar, "they incorporated ingredients that are relatively new to their food systems and created their own ways of cooking with them," he says. A couple of dishes that stayed with him were a seaweed kootu (spinach replaced with seaweed in dals) and ellu podi (sesame dried seaweed gun powder).

Kumar has been studying the culinary culture of the lesser-known communities of Tamil Nadu, including the diaspora since the pandemic...